Surviving
by Little-Night-Roses
Summary: When their plane crash lands off the coast of Australia, those who survive are left with no choice but to put aside their differences and live with each other on a remote island. But are the island, the crash and it's new inhabitants all that they seem?


**Hi guys. So, many of you will have read this fic before but I have re-written it- this time in third person POV- and made a few changes. Hopefully this time round I'll post more than just two chapters.**

**Yes, this is based on Lost but it won't follow the story exactly and I'll try to put my own spin on the characters and events. Flashbacks are in italics, just in case anyone gets confused.**

**Happy reading, and please review. Feedback helps me while working on new chapters.**

As Katniss's eyes flickered open, the first thing she became aware of was the bright light above her and the throbbing in her head. As her eyes adjusted, the shining green blur above came slowly into focus and formed itself into a thick canopy of trees, the sun streaming blindingly through the branches. Below her hands Katniss could feel something soft and damp, prodding with her shaking hands she soon realised it to be the ground.

Pushing herself up quickly, and suffering for it with another jolt of dizziness, Katniss managed to bring herself unsteadily to her feet, taking in her new surroundings. Enclosed by a thick wall of trees, it was almost like being back home. But this was different. The air was warmer, humid even, and Katniss could feel a thin layer of sweat forming across her forehead. Even the trees were different- greener, brighter and completely removed from the darker woods of home.

A sharp scream pierced the air, setting Katniss off on a run towards it. Struggling against the thick foliage of leaves and branches, Katniss ran –head pounding- towards the source of the noise. The tight enclosure of the jungle suddenly opened up, revealing a shining golden beach leading down to crystal blue water, sun glinting brightly onto the waves. This vision of paradise was quickly interrupted as another loud cry whipped Katniss's attention to further down the beach and revealed a much less dazzling sight.

_The fasten seatbelt sign clicked on, causing Katniss to look up from the glossy magazine in her hands. Not that this distraction bothered her. She'd only picked it up last minute at the airport in an attempt to pass time, and the story of some beaming male model's rise to fame was hardly holding her attention. She tossed the copy aside, clipped in her seatbelt and contented herself for the next few moments by simply gazing out at the clouds outside. _

_Then it happened._

_The plain jolted slightly, causing a murmur of mild shock to ripple through the plane. Then nothing._

_Katniss caught the eye of the man seated across the aisle from her. He was middle aged, wearing large black glasses. He nodded dismissively at her, with a slight smile._

"_Not to worry. Just some slight turbulence, that's all."_

"_I'm not worried" shrugged Katniss. "It's just my sister is seated further back by herself and we're not exactly frequent flyers"_

"_She should be fine" sympathised the older man. "My research partner and I have to travel often for work and we've never encountered any problems so far"_

"_Where is your partner?" Asked Katniss politely, indicating the empty seat beside the man. She wasn't usually one for conversation, but the man seemed friendly enough and anything was better than dimly flicking through that trashy magazine._

"_She's just popped off the use the bathroom, though I imagine with the seatbelt sings being on she's seated found herself a seat further ba—"_

_Another sharp jolt shook the plane, this time earning a few screams of surprise. It was soon followed by a second, larger one- causing some overhead luggage to fall and crash onto the people below. The plane shook violently, the air filled with shouts and the last thing Katniss saw were the oxygen masks dropping as the plane tilted and she smacked her head against the window._

Amidst a colossal, smouldering wreckage, several bedraggled looking people dashed around. Others lay on the ground, shrieking in agony or else silently still. What looked to be the wing of a plane was standing upright jammed into the sand, while a group of people struggled to free the hysterical man whose legs were trapped beneath it. But these people were just blurs to Katniss. They weren't who she was looking for. The sound of the still-whirring engine was almost deafening, but not loud enough to keep the excruciating shrieks from Katniss's ears. The sounds and sights were sickening, and Katniss was sure that this couldn't possibly be anything other than a horrible dream. She blinked, hoping the image before her would vanish, but to no avail. Then she heard it. Amidst the cries for help or panicked yells filling the air a small, familiar scream reached Katniss's ears.

"Prim!"

Katniss was running head on towards the smoke-filled crash site before she could even register what she was doing. Ignoring the burning in her lungs, the putrid smell in the air and the deep red stains coating the sand she continued, gazing wildly around to find the source of the scream.

"Pr- "

"Katniss!"

The small blonde girl hurled herself into her sisters side, the two of them collapsing onto the sand together in relief. Katniss wrapped her arms protectively around her little sister, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Her hair smelled like smoke.

"Katniss we couldn't find you…..I didn't know where- "

"Shhh" Katniss hushed the girl. "I'm ok …it's all ok"

Pulling out of the embrace, she took her sisters face in her hands. There were tear tracks down her pale face, and fresh tears bubbling in her eyes but Katniss was relieved to see that her sister seemed otherwise unharmed.

"Are you hurt?"

The young girl shook her head quickly, but as another loud shout of pain sounded she paled noticeably. "You need to move away from here okay? It's not safe".

"I only came to find you" said Prim defensively, trying not to breathe in too much of the grey smoke that surrounded them. "Gale told me to sit as far away as possible but then I heard you shouting and came to get you".

"Is Gale alright?" Katniss asked, a little guilty that he hadn't come to mind before. "Where is he?"

"Over there" pointed Prim, gesturing towards the group of people trying to help the man jammed under the planes wing. Katniss recognised Gale's familiar dark hair, able to pick him out even from the distance. Content that he seemed ok, she turned her attention back to her younger sister- who had apparently been more observant to the chaos than Katniss would have liked. "….The man's legs are jammed right under the wing, there's blood everywhere and….."

A large, ear shattering blast sounded from their right, and Katniss had only a split second to react and shield her sister as the plane's engine exploded- covering them in a flurry of sand and broken plane parts.

"Come on" said Katniss, dusting herself off and practically dragging Prim away from the sight of destruction. . The smell of smoke is mixed with that of burning flesh, Katniss was horrified to realise, and from what she could see many people were sporting horrific wounds or seemed to be in some state of distress. She was tempted to tell Prim to run, to go into the woods, but she didn't particularly want to let the young girl out of her sight. At the same time though, Katniss couldn't bear just to stand and observe the turmoil around her. It wasn't in her nature to do nothing.

Leading Prim down the beach, Katniss found herself observing the others around her for the first time. Not everyone was helping out like Gale was. A woman in a metallic pink dress stood, just staring at the crumpled mess of the plane and muttering "Good heavens" over and over. Her probably once flawless make-up smudged down her face and she clutched a pair of broken heels in her arms as though they were the only thing keeping her sane.

A younger blonde woman is standing, screaming hysterically, while a young man who looks too similar to her to be anything other than her brother yells over at her to 'shut up, Cash, and do something useful' as he and another man lift a lifeless body and begin to move it away from the plane wreck.

Katniss had never seen a dead body before, at least not a human one anyway. She'd grown used to the sight of dead animals during her time spent in the woods, but this was a whole different story. She quickly moved past the sight, determined to shield Prim from the view as much as possible.

Finding a spot that was far enough away from but would still be visible from the crash, Katniss deposited her sister with a tight hug and strict orders not to go anywhere. The young girl agreed solemnly, though Katniss could tell she was itching to help. Prim, like her sister, didn't have it in her nature to stand on the sidelines either.

Content that her sister was relatively out of harms way, Katniss sprinted back to into the smoky depths of the crash sight, trying to make some sense of their situation and trying to find some way she could be of help. She's just about to force herself to go and help with the moving of the bodies when a large pair of arms suddenly wrap themselves around her. It's not until Gale releases Katniss from the hug and she gets a proper look at him that she realises his white t-shirt is stained with dark red blood down one side.

"It's not mine" he confirms shakily, speaking quickly and clearly still in partial shock.

"There was this guy trapped back there. A few of us managed to pull him out eventually…but well…" He breaks off and rubs his hand over his face, leaving red marks on it too. "What the hell happened to you anyway?"

"I don't know" Admitted Katniss, sensing her pulsing heart rate return slowly to normal now that she knew the people she cared about were safe.

"I woke up in the woods, somewhere over there" she said, pointing vaguely towards where she had stumbled through the tree's.

"You're ok though?" Asks Gale, worriedly. "Prim's fine, by the way…she's over-"

"I found her" cuts in Katniss, "Sent her down the beach, out of the way. I'm fine"

Gale opened his mouth , probably to send her off to join her sister but Katniss cut him off again.

"I'm ok." Sounding stronger than she felt "Just tell me what I can do to help".

Gale looked around, trying to find some job that Katniss could do without sending her into harms way. Not that he doubted her ability to take care of herself. He'd known Katniss for years and never once had he seen her show any sign of weakness. But then again this was no normal situation.

"Just look after your sister, okay?"

"Gale" snapped Katniss "I can do something else. I can help. There are people trapped over there-"

"And there are plenty of people trying to help them already " He finished for her. Then, in a calmer tone, Gale added. "There's not much that can be done for them right now. Please- just try and stay safe ok? Stay safe for Prim"

Katniss began to argue back, but stopped herself. People were dead or dying around them, this was hardly the time and place. So instead she turned her back without a word and let Gale go back to being a hero. He called after her but Katniss ignored him. They could talk later. Right now there were things to do.

It was as she stomped down the beach, angry at her help being refused and determined to be of use anyway that Katniss was stopped in her tracks.

"Sorry, do you have a minute? I could use some help"

The voice came from a few feet away, where a young blond man was kneeling on the ground. Lying unconscious beside him was another, older man whom Katniss was horrified to see had a large chunk of metal sticking out of his right leg. A pair of black spectacles lay cracked at his side. It was not so long ago that this man had assured Katniss that nothing was about to go wrong with their plane journey.

"Umm…sure. What do you need?" asked Katniss, bringing herself closer and trying to on the blond man rather than the vast amount of blood seeping from the other man's leg.

"Can you hold him down? I need to get this out" he said, indicating the sharp piece of metal as Katniss got down on her knee's beside them "It's just that he might wake up and I need him to stay as still as possible for this to work".

"You're going to pull it out?" asked Katniss doubtfully. There was just so much blood.

"It's ok, I'm a doctor. Are you going to manage this?" he asked, looking at Katniss as though worried she might faint.

"Yes" she said determinedly, settling herself so that she had a firm grip on the injured man's shoulders. "I'm ready"

"Ok" nodded the young doctor. Katniss held the man's shoulders tightly, anticipating him to cause a struggle. As the metal was carefully wrenched from his leg the man's eyes shot open and he let out an anguished gasp. The doctor looked up from his work.

"Keep him calm" he said warningly, as he pulled his shirt off and used it to stem the flow of blood.

Katniss gripped the man's shoulders tighter, keeping him flat on the ground.

"It's ok" she said, trying to keep her voice as soothing as possible and struggling with what to say. "Do you remember me from the plane? We sat near each other. We talked for a bit" The man nodded vaguely and seemed to settle slightly.

"Wha….What happened?" he croaked, shooting a disbelieving glance at the smouldering wreckage.

"We crashed" answered the blond man as he finished bandaging up his patient's leg "I saw the whole thing. The plane just fell to pieces"

"I blacked out" confessed Katniss. " I don't remember much past the initial turbulence.

"Your lucky" said the doctor grimly. "In fact, we're all quite lucky. I'd say it was a miracle that we didn't all die."

You're going to be fine though" he said reassuringly, patting the older mans hand. "The wound wasn't too deep, and I've bandaged you up so it should heel alright providing you don't put too much strain on it.

"Thank you" nodded the older man. "Though I feel fine now. You should go…..go and help someone else. It looks like quite a scene over there"

"I'll come and check back on you in a little while" said the young man, standing up. "In the meanwhile, I'm sure this young lady- "

"Katniss"

"-Katniss will keep an eye on you". He finished, with a nod at her. "Give me a shout if anything goes wrong"

"What's your name?" asked Katniss, not entirety sure that she could look after this man herself. Sure he seemed stable enough at the moment, but she wasn't sure she would be of much use if his leg started to bleed uncontrollably again.

"It's Peeta" he said, smiling for the first time as though he sensed her apprehension "And you're going to be fine".

Katniss nodded and watched as his blond head retreated into the distance. He'd called them lucky, but looking around at the plane wreck, corpses of the recently dead and the few panicking people rushing around Katniss couldn't help but doubt how that could possibly be true.


End file.
